


Washington Family Magazine

by oneoneandone



Series: Subscription [4]
Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F, Interviews
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:47:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27113524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneoneandone/pseuds/oneoneandone
Summary: Interview with Washington Family Magazine
Relationships: Ashlyn Harris/Ali Krieger
Series: Subscription [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1979056
Kudos: 15





	Washington Family Magazine

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt**   
>  _Ashlyn breaks down on the first day of kindergarten, while their child is excited._

**Washington Family Magazine** : _We’re here today checking in with moms and recent 2019 Women’s World Cup Gold and 2020 Tokyo gold medal winners Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris, who announced their retirement in a joint statement earlier this month. Ladies, over the past two years you’ve helped the US Women’s Soccer Team bring home its fourth star and fourth consecutive Olympic gold, how do you feel?_

 **AK** : Honestly? Exhausted. We’ve been on the road for so long now, we’re just trying to get ourselves settled back into a routine at home at the moment.

 **AH** : Yeah, I mean, first there were the tune up games before the Olympics, then a month of traveling and playing all over Japan, and the hype here at home has been incredible, but it’s been really nice to be able to just sit on the couch at night in this downtime between the “Welcome Home” events and the start of the Victory Tour.

 **WFM** : _How has this international tournament experience been different from your previous ones, say in 2016 or 2019?_

 **AH** : Well, it’s different, I think, when you’re coming in as the defending champs. Not only the defending Olympic champions but also trying to do something that’s never been done before–win two World Cups and two Olympic golds back to back. You put a lot of pressure on yourself. And thankfully we’ve all been able to perform well despite the feeling that we need to live up to our performance four years ago. 

**AK** : Plus, we’re different people now, different players. Ash was a back-up keeper last time, this time she played more minutes than Hope. I was a long shot for the starting spot at right back until Meg’s injury and Kelley was moved to the left. It’s made us all the more aware of how valuable every second we get on that grass is. 

**AH** : Not to mention the mom thing. 

**WFM** : _How has that been, traveling for the World Cup and the Olympics with your daughter in tow?_

 **AH** : It’s certainly different. And there are good things and bad things, of course, but Maggie loves it. I mean, last summer in France she was only two, so she didn’t have any real conception of what was happening, but this time she’s a lot more aware of the world around her. 

**AK** : Watching her explore a world that’s so different from home is a lot of fun. We’ve spent a lot of time on the road, so honestly, she’s more familiar with traveling than she is her own bedroom. We’ve been home for three weeks and she keeps asking if it’s time to bring out her suitcase yet.

 **WFM** : _Now, you’ve both announced your retirement from the National Team. Will you continue to play for the NWSL, or are you two moving on from soccer to bigger things?_

 **AH** : _[To her partner]_ You go first.

 **AK** : Well, I only just told my team, but this will be my last season. Now that Maggie is getting older, we want her life to be a little more stable. So Ash will continue with the Pride until she’s ready to retire, and we’ll be raising our family at our home down in Florida, not too far from our extended family members.

 **AH** : And my goal is to play for a few more years, maybe until Mags is in school full-time. But after that, I don’t know what I’m going to do. Maybe by then we’ll have another baby and I’ll be ready to retire and stay home with the kid while my superstar partner goes off to her job as a sports broadcaster or fancy event planner.

 **WFM** : _That sounds like a plan–and another baby? Are you looking forward to expanding your family?_

 **AK** : Absolutely. I’m ready. I want another little one to rock to sleep. Already Maggie is too cool for me. Plus, my big bad goalkeeper here is a worrier. I figure if we have another kid, she can spread the worry between them a little bit.

 **AH** : I am not! I am not a worrier! I just think three is a little too young to send our daughter off to pre-K all by her self! What if she falls? Or has a tantrum? Or they try to feed her bananas for lunch?

 **AK** : The first day of pre-K? Ash here had the cops called on her by one of the office aides. She was peeping through the windows and creeped out a teaching assistant.

 **AH** : Yeah, it wasn’t my finest moment, I’ll admit that. But–

 **AK** : No, honey, your finest moment was the next day, when it happened again.

 **WFM** : _Ali Krieger and Ashlyn will be with their NWSL teams as the playoffs begin next weekend, and then on the road again with the USWNT in October to kick off their Victory Tour, before retiring in December. Tickets for the Washington Spirit match against the number three ranked Portland Thorns are available on the Spirit website, and if you feel like traveling south now that it’s getting a little chilly, you can get tickets for the Pride as they take on the Chicago Red Stars in the semi-finals in Orlando by checking out their ticket website._


End file.
